


A Dream Come True

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Turtles!, Characters of color, Disabled Character, Intersex Character, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 09:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4054285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unable to talk to his brothers, Donatello searches out a new source of comfort.  Together they find the answer to life's most difficult hurdle.</p><p>Inspired by Turtle-Sketches' Donnie-Headcanon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [turtlesketches](https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtlesketches/gifts).



> To Turtle Sketches:
> 
> Well, here it is. I was drawn to dabble in your world, I hope I didn't mangle it too badly. I'll answer some of the obvious question in the notes at the end.

"Hey, Javi."

"You sound bummed. What can I do for you, Donatello?" [Javier](http://turtle-sketches.tumblr.com/post/106091678719/i-really-love-what-kidn-of-girl-boyfriends-you) looked over his shoulder at the 'Purple One'. He still called the four turtles by these silly, identifying monikers in his head more often than he would like to admit. Although, for Donatello, it was becoming more of a term of endearment. And wasn't that strange.

"I, um… Can I talk to you?" The Purple One hesitated in the middle of the room, looking around. He picked up several objects and put them back down again, fiddling and fidgeting. Javier looked around, too. Most of the things Donatello was handling had belonged to Matty. It had been a few years since the dork had died, but Donatello was only just starting to come back around the Dungeon.

Watching Donatello move nervously through the smallish space, Javier remembered the way he used to hover over the other roller. Most of the light in the room always came from the monitors; it had illuminated Donatello and Matty's faces, and the subsequent shadows had obscured the intimidating bulk of the turtle's shell, until Javier had been ready to deal with the reality of the mutant in the room. One day, Javier had flicked on the overhead lighting to get a good look at their visitor. Oddly enough, it had turned out to be Michelangelo, and after the turtle had left, Matty had explained how he kept Donatello's brothers straight in his head: their colors, and their weapons.

Donatello's omnipresent Bo-staff was missing today. He must have just come from bed. 'No wonder he looks exhausted.' The phone was ringing in his ear, but Javier addressed Donatello before picking up the line. "Sit down before you fall down, Donatello. _Underground Tech: Fast Fixes from you Internet Minxes! How can I help you?_ "

Sitting on the corner of a table, Donatello watched Javier work, his fingers flying along the keys and his friendly voice explaining the process to his caller. Matty had been awfully sweet ‒ Javier had called him 'perfectly adorkable' once in front of Raphael and Mikey had repeated the description until the day Matty died ‒ but Javier was definitely the 'people person' of the paraplegic pair. Case in point, Javi was perfectly happy to have Raph and Casey call him 'Wheels', which Matty had tolerated on the surface, but privately hated. It had been a relief to Donnie and Matty both, when they had been sure enough of Javier to bring him down to the lair for a mutant meet-and-greet. He'd snapped up the nickname and Matty had never borne it again.

This call was shaping up to be a long one, and Donatello focused on remembering how the Dungeon came to be in order to keep his mind off his dreams. Not long after they had met, Matty had tried out wheelchair basketball, which turned out really not to be his speed, but he had become fast friends another young man and they had hatched a plan to open a web based troubleshooting business. After a few weeks, it had become very apparent that Matty and his friend were serious about their business venture. They had really already had everything they needed to get started, except for a work space.

With two wheelchair bound technicians, their workspace had to be relatively large for a nerd-pad. And with all the equipment they eventually wanted to own, it had to be well air-conditioned. "What about somethin' underground?" Raph had asked, as they all sat in the lair spit-balling. "Caves stay about 60 degrees year-round naturally. The sewers are the same way. I bet we can find a nice utility room, or somethin' for ya." Every once in a while the meathead had a spectacular idea, and that had been one of them.

The Turtles, Master Splinter, Casey and April had spent weeks searching out a suitable location. Matty inspected each one, before finally settling on a place beneath Central Park. Matty had listed all the improvements needed and the Turtles had carried them out. It took a lot of manual labor, for which Raph, Leo, and Casey had been particularly adept. It also took a lot of aerobatic finagling, because the chamber was quite high, to get them properly ventilated and connected. Michelangelo had surprised everyone by being, not just good at the physical aspect, but also at carrying out Don and Matty's instructions. All in all, it had taken them another couple of weeks to get the place cleaned and in order, including a scrub down by April and the manufacture of wheelchair access.

Donatello had always been disappointed that he hadn't been able to see Javier's reaction to the place. After months of off-hand information delivery, Matty had taken the plunge and _told_ Javier about the five ninja. Donatello had been furious, but eventually the anger had worn down ‒ mostly because Mikey was the first to visit the Dungeon while Javi was present, and that grated for some reason ‒ and Donatello had started making increasingly frequent trips to the Dungeon. It had still been some order of weeks before Javier had looked at them in full light and even more weeks after that before he had come to the lair.

Fortunately, Donatello had gotten to be present for that unveiling. Javier and Matty were very different people, no matter how similar they looked. Despite having significantly more preparation, Javier had still frozen with shock for over a minute. He'd been painfully shy and quiet with them all, until Mikey had gotten distracted. Then all of the sudden, Javi had been popping wheelies and having a grand old time, like mutants had always been a part of his life.

"Earth to Donatello; come in lizard brain." Javier was peering up at him, concern etched deeply into his face.

"Sorry, guess I got caught up." Donatello rubbed the back of his head, looking at his toes.

"S'ok. You seemed pretty dolorous when you came in and you look a little better now." Javi grinned, spinning his chair with one hand out in a grand, sweeping gesture. "I closed down; so, now you're stuck with my undivided attention."

Donatello's slowly lifting spirits crashed down again. He had come here to talk about the dreams. Telling Leonardo about the infertile clutches had been hard enough, but somehow he just couldn't tell his brother about this.

"Donnie?" Javier's gentle, concerned voice prompted him to talk, just the way Leonardo's had.

"I've been having these dreams. About… About eggs." _Hoo! it's okay. Javi can't think you're any weirder than you already are. You're a five-foot tall talking turtle._ Javier's hand was warm on Don's knee, and he continued before the little spot of comfort could stop working. "I guess it's kind of like baby dreams? [In the last one](http://turtle-sketches.tumblr.com/post/112029199239/slides-idea-of-trans-donnie-onto-your-dash-and), I was gaining mass inexplicably. I wasn't getting fat, just literally heavier. When I realized what it could be, I had Raph check under my shell and there was a whole clutch of eggs ready to be born." Don swallowed back a sob. "Then I woke up."

"Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're a boy turtle, right?" Javier's tone was delicate but determined.

"Yes." Half a second later, Donatello rethought his answer. "Well, no." Javier raised an eyebrow. "I'm intersex. I look, feel, and act male, but my body parts are female." Don wiped at his dry cheeks, still on the verge of crying.

"Ah." Gently, Javier tilted Donatello's face to up look at him. "So, is it that you're afraid of getting pregnant, or that you really want to be a mother, that's bothering you?"

Fear gripped Donatello's belly, and the tears welled over. "I've been laying infertile clutches for [years](http://turtle-sketches.tumblr.com/post/114910208094/19-11-2014-only-8-eggs-this-time-they-were-fairly)." He sobbed quietly. "I know there's nothing there, but I can't help feeling like I'm abandoning my children. But my chances of producing a viable clutch and then having it hatch successfully are slim to none. And that's just the biological aspect. First I'd have to find a‒ a mate." Donatello let himself fall apart, sliding disconsolately to the floor.

Javier let the turtle cry in solitude while he considered the situation. There were so many obstacles in Donatello's path, very difficult ones, but in the end they weren't so different from the ones Javier himself faced. With one notable exception, maybe.

Coaxing Donatello's head into his lap, Javier let the tears run their course. His sister would kill him if he ever told someone to stop crying ‒ beyond the fact that it usually had the opposite effect ‒ and saying something like 'let it all out' just felt trite. Poor guy. Javier waited patiently until the tears had run dry and the hiccups subsided.

"Donatello," the mutant looked up with one red-rimmed eye, "I feel like you need me to understand this, and I want to, but I need to ask a few more questions before I can really get my head around it." Donnie nodded, leaning back so he could actually speak. He found himself settling into the kneeling position Master Splinter always had them use when he wanted them to _listen_. "Does your family know about this?" Don thought about that. He knew he had confessed to Leonardo [how he felt](http://turtle-sketches.tumblr.com/post/114938184229/des-anybody-else-knows-about-donnies-eggs) about the eggs he'd laid, and that was as good as telling all of them, even if Leo never said a word. Donatello nodded, waiting for the next question. "Are you _sure_ you're sterile?"

Well, if Mikey had managed to reproduce with May, anything could happen. "No, I'm not positive."

"Okay, last one: I know regular turtles don't raise their offspring. Would you? I mean, is it pure reproduction your after or actual parenthood?"

"Oh, God!" Donatello almost broke down again, and if there had been even the slightest hint of censure in Javier's tone, he would have. "I want to be a mother so badly." Well, that felt weird to say. And it certainly served to stave off any onrushing hysterics. Don felt oddly light, getting that out in the open. "The dreams get worse when I spend a lot of time with Mable. It's like getting a taste of something I've always wanted and haven't been able to find." He gave a watery smile, hoping Javier could relate.

"Yeah, I've always wanted kids, too, but you wouldn't believe how many people think being paralyzed automatically means I can't produce viable semen. Or have sex at all, come to think of it." Don didn't know why, but that made him feel a little better. "Some days, I feel like I'd do anything to get them." Children, he meant, and Donatello saw a kindred soul burning right before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't figure out how to imbed images, so I imbedded links to TS wonderful art. They are the ONLY things underlined, give 'em a click if you haven't already.


	2. Chapter 2

**\-- Two Years Later --**

Donatello had been following what he thought were his instincts, with a little mechanical help ‒ read: a shovel ‒ all these years, but Primrose had different instructions.

"Don't do what turtles are supposed to do, Donatello. Do what your body wants you to do. Move around, stretch, sit in the bath; whatever works." She had smiled indulgently at him, nodding encouragingly.

Master Splinter had also nodded, before adding his own instructions. "Feel free to tell any of us to come or go; order us around. We only want to help. Whatever makes you more comfortable is what you should do, or make us do, as it were."

It had taken hours, time Donatello had previously spent traveling to the place where he would lay his unfertilized eggs. He had paced, swum, called and dismissed everyone at least twice, and even done cartwheels, before Javier had suggested letting gravity do the work. A low hanging piece of pipe had been the final puzzle piece.

Donatello had stretched up, grabbing the pipe tightly, and arched his back until he could feel the eggs start to shift. "They're coming!"

Javier had started to cheer and the others came running. Each member of the family had caught an egg, taking them to the large bank of sand under a sunlamp in the main room, where Mable was digging a nest.

Now, Donnie sat, watching the children cover the eggs over with sand. There were nine perfect, round, softball-sized eggs. Something told Donnie they weren't going to survive.

\--

Hatching day came and went. To everyone's surprise, or maybe no-one's, Raphael had been the mother hen to the clutch, even more so than Donatello, their actual mother. He had spent most of his time at home on or near their little makeshift beach. Since the due-date had passed, Raph refused to leave the lair at all. This morning they woke up to find up him half buried in the sand, not far from the nest.

"It's gonna be today, Donnie. I can feel it. Won't be long, now." Raph had seemed a little crazed as he said it.

Javier rolled in not long after breakfast. "I just wanted to check in before I opened for the day." He had stayed a few minutes, taking the pulse of the family, before making the long trek to the Dungeon. Donatello was sad to see him go, but he had a feeling that despite his nonchalant exterior, Javier was having a difficult time being in the same room as his non-fatherhood. He returned just after two that afternoon.

"Hey, Raph. How's it coming?" The Red One didn't answer and Javier drifted closer, trying to see if the turtle was awake. He was, and he was breathing kind of hard and shallow. "Raph?" He asked more insistently. Still no 'Yo, Wheels!' was forth coming. "Raphael?"

Finally, Raph turned to look at him, blinking owlishly. "Get down here, Javi. Ya gotta feel this." Donatello watched, stunned, as Javier set his breaks and dropped down to the floor. He crawled, walking confidently on his hands, onto the sand and laid where Raph directed him. "Put yer hand in the sand. No, more ta the left. Yeah, right there; really dig it in."

When Javier's hand was buried halfway to his elbow he stopped suddenly, looking sharply at Raphael. "Is that‒?"

"Well, it ain't no earthquake." Raphael looked pleased as punch. Donatello felt like puking. They waited while the minutes ticked slowly by.

Between the two males, the sand started to shift and bulge. The surface cracked, before collapsing inward. Moments later a little green someone crawled out. Sometime in the last several minutes, the whole family had cottoned on to the proceedings and gathered around Donnie. The Purple One stood frozen, on the verge of fainting. He was a mother!

"Hey, baby!" Javier scooped up the hatchling, kissing its plastron. He wiped sand from his lips, laughing. "So much for a clean birth. Hey, is baby a boy or a girl?" Javier held the hatchling out to Raphael, who took it gingerly, cooing stupidly. "Give me a second?" With both hands now free, Javi sat up, whipped off his shirt and laid back in the warm sand. "Any time you're ready," he addressed Raph, but the family seemed to take the words as an invitation.

They rushed forward almost as one, passing the hatchling carefully between them. Sometime in the chaos, Raphael had gotten up on his knees, and was digging down into the nest.

"Are there gonna be any more?" Mikey asked, watching his brother intently.

"Ah," Raph pulled out another handful of sand, "I don't think so. I've been in there feelin' the sand shift since about midnight, and I really think it's only the one, but I'm checkin' anyway." Raphael stopped digging and was clearly inspecting the other eight eggs.

"Raph! What are you doing!" April's voice carried past Donnie, quickly followed by her body and those of Casey and Bonnie. Primrose joined the group at a more sedate pace.

"Jus' checkin' for more hatchlings, but it looks like we only get one baby this time."

Primrose accepted the tiny baby mutant as it made the last of its rounds. She delicately brushed sand from the hatchling's face and carapace. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Actually, I was hopin' one of you ladies would have small enough fingers ta find out, but…" Raphael motioned for the hatchling back. Primrose kissed they baby's head and handed it over. "I think even Mabel's iddy-biddy fingers are gonna be too big." He placed the baby on Javier's chest. "That's where you want it, right, bub?"

"Yep!" Javier laid a hand over the hatchling.

"Maybe I can help with the sexing," April volunteered. They all turned to look dubiously at her. "I think Don's got a camera small enough to do the job. Just give me a few minutes to get set up." April hurried off, disappearing into the lab.

May had arrived. She deposited a tot in Donatello's arms. "It's freaky, isn't it?"

"I never prepared for this possibility. I was so sure none of them would hatch." Don cuddled the little human closer.

"Well, that is definitely going to make things more difficult, but we'll be here to help you. I've taken a week off of work and everything." May kissed his cheek, and set both her offspring on the floor. "Why don't we all go say hello?"

Don leaned against the wall near Javier's head, sliding slowly down until he was sitting, but he made no move to touch the baby, or Javier for that matter. Twenty minutes later, April whisked the baby away. She returned several minutes later, declaring the hatchling a girl, as she placed it ‒ her ‒ back on Javi's chest.

Leonardo was the first one to break the ensuing silence. "Maybe it's a good thing the other eggs didn't hatch. Can you imagine us with nine little girls running around the sewer?" Master Splinter snorted and after a moment everyone was chuckling good naturedly. Everyone, except Donatello.

"Now, Baby just needs a name." Michelangelo looked expectantly at Javier, who shrugged.

"I didn't want to get my hopes up." The room was silent again at that revelation.

Once more, Leo broke the stillness. "I think Raph had a good one." He smiled conspiratorially at his brother, obviously secretly pleased to have put him on the spot.

Raphael fidgeted awkwardly for a moment. "Cleopatra." He looked around at everyone, made nervous by the lack of reaction. "I had a queen for each of them, but that's my favorite."

The silence reigned for another moment. Donatello leaned over, picking up the baby and looking her in the eyes. "Hello, Cleo."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter falls between Chapters One and Two, and usually I'm a stickler for chronology, but I'm employing my poetic license here because I think it would have ruined the end of Chapter Two. Also, you have plenty of warning, so no fair getting confused.

"Mornin', Donnie. How're the egg-babies?"

' _Egg-babies?_ ' Donatello mouthed to himself, looking quizzically at his brother. _Egg-babies_? "Raph, your mind is a scary place." Egg-babies. "And for your information, they're in exactly the same place, doing exactly the same thing as they were yesterday, and every other day since I laid them."

"Ah, okay." Raph looked a little cowed. Which really hadn't been Donatello's intention, but with every day that passed, he got just a little more nervous. What if there was something wrong with them? "Hey!" Raph brightened up like Donnie hadn't said a thing. "Mind if I… ya know, egg-sit?"

_Egg-sit?_ Raph and Mikey might have more in common than any of them thought. "Sure, Raph. Knock yourself out," Don replied in the same voice he used when Michelangelo was being particularly weird.

\--

Since Raph had started 'Egg-Sitting', he had also started talking to himself. Or, well, to the 'Egg-Babies', actually. It was a hoot. Leonardo stayed very still and quiet on the couch, trying to ensure he'd see the entire show.

"Alright," Raphael declared quietly. "Yer all gonna need names, aren't cha‒"

"Leonardo-San?" Leo almost jumped out of his shell. He swung around quickly, shushing the owner of the gentle voice.

"Quiet, Usagi. Sit down." He made room on the sofa, gesturing rapidly in a ridiculous attempt at generating faster compliance.

Miyamoto Usagi sat promptly, and silently. "What is going on?" he whispered.

"Raph's talking to Donnie's eggs."

"This is strange?"

"It's _hilarious_." They focused discretely on Raphael over the back of the couch.

"‒about baseball players? You could be a whole Abbott and Costello skit. ' _What time t'marrah are ya gonna tell me who's pitching_? Who is on first. _I don't know_! _Third base, third base_.' Nah, that's no good. Wait a minute!" Raphael scuttled off into Donatello's lab.

Usagi broke the ensuing silence cautiously, "I do not understand."

"He's trying to name them." Leonardo grinned at his Samurai friend.

"Should they not be named by their parents?" Usagi looked _very_ interested in his answer.

"Yeah, that's how it usually goes," Leonardo rubbed the back of his head. He continued awkwardly, "But Donatello is really scared. I mean _terrified_ , that these eggs aren't going to hatch. He's distancing himself a little more every day. And it's starting to wear on Javier. Don't get me wrong, they're going to be great parents, but… They probably won't do stuff like this until the babies come."

"It can be very difficult to plan for the best, and the worst, at the same time." Wise words. Usagi looked pensive in the several seconds before Raphael returned. "Raphael seems to be handling it well. What is he doing?"

"I think Raph has decided that Schrödinger's Cat is alive until proven otherwise. And, I'm not sure." Raph was wiggling his hand down into the sand, thankfully a safe twenty inches or so away from the nest. He filled in the hole and started waiting. He looked happily patient, something Leonardo was fairly certain he had never seen before. "He looks like Mikey waiting for a bedtime story." They waited several more minutes, but nothing happened, Raphael didn't so much as twitch. "C'mon, let's get something to eat. If we're careful, he won't notice us."

Just as Leonardo and Usagi were placing their rice bowls in the sink, Raph walked into the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of milk. "The Egg-Babies are gon'ta be girls." He walked out, again.

Leonardo blinked after him. "How does he know that?"

"I believe," Usagi began, pointing at the counter next to the refrigerator, "that he took their temperature?"

"Huh." That was actually pretty smart. Turtle gender is determined by incubation temperature. Still, Leonardo was leery of placing too much stock in any science executed by Raphael, no matter how slick it seemed.

Usagi and Leonardo snuck back to the couch. As they watched, Raphael bellied down on the nest, opening a massive tome on the sand before him. "Master Splinter found our names in a book; let's see what we got in here." He flicked through some of the pages, pausing momentarily. "We are _not_ naming any one of you _Mulan_." Raph stuck out his tongue, pulling a classic turtle-yuck face. He rubbed and patted the sand, smiling absently as he thought. "How about a real queen?" Raph paged quickly through the book. "Like… Himiko!" He read for a moment. "Or _Zenobia_ ; now there was one tough lady..."

**Author's Note:**

> Alright Everyone: Explanation Time.
> 
> All OCs except Javi and Cleo belong to Turtle-Sketches (who can be found here - http://turtle-sketches.tumblr.com/ ).
> 
> In TS's world Matty is still alive and well, but it was declared that he would NOT be the father of Donnie's baby(s). I couldn't bring myself to write throw him over, so I wrote him out entirely.
> 
> Javi is a compromise character, of sorts, although I rather like him in his own right. He was inspired by an early concept sketch for Matty, with which I fell in love. That is also why he, too, is wheelchair bound. In my head, he's been paralyzed much longer, say from early childhood, giving him a more cavalier personality -- more geek, less dork. For all those who are interested, I envision Javi as being half Black and half Latino; or kind of like Tip from the movie Home, now that I've thought of it.
> 
> Pregnancy - I left the details to your imagination. TS sounds really psyched to go through that whole process, and as the Turtle/Human relationships are also in TS' wheelhouse, I glossed over both areas. That wasn't really what this story was about, anyway.


End file.
